Races in the 2nd District take shape; top two vote-getters will square off in November

Hundreds of thousands of ballots still need to be processed in California, but it's fairly clear which two candidates in both the 2nd Congressional District and 2nd District Assembly races are headed to the November runoff.

Per the results listed Thursday by the California Secretary of State's Office, Democratic Assemblyman Jared Huffman and Republican candidate Daniel Roberts will square off in November for the 2nd Congressional District spot. Incumbent Democratic Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro will face Democrat Tom Lynch for the 2nd District Assembly seat.

The only 2nd District race where things could possibly change is in the race for Congress. More than 775,500 ballots throughout the state still needed to be counted as of Thursday evening, according to the California Secretary of State's Office. So it's possible Huffman could face an opponent other than Roberts.

Districtwide, Huffman received 37.3 percent of the vote, followed by Roberts with 15.3 percent of the vote. Democratic candidate Norman Solomon followed with 14.2 percent of the vote and could feasibly surpass Roberts depending on the results of the remaining ballots.

Solomon has yet to concede the race and said this week that the November election is still wide open.

"There is a tendency to want to say we know what happened, and the fact is we don't," Solomon said about the final tally.

In Humboldt County, voters favored Huffman with 27.5 percent of the vote followed by Roberts with 18.6 percent. Solomon received 11.7 percent of the vote. Solomon was surpassed by Stacey Lawson with 13.4 percent and Susan Adams with 13.1 percent of the vote.

Huffman got a big boost for his campaign Thursday when retiring Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, who is stepping down after 20 years in office, endorsed him as her successor.

"Jared is that rare public servant with both the courage of his convictions and the ability to work constructively to get things done," Woolsey said in a statement.

Despite Huffman receiving more than twice as many votes as Roberts or Solomon throughout the district, he will still face one of them in the November runoff election -- even if both candidates end up being Democrats.

As part of the state's new "top two" open primary system, only the two candidates receiving the most votes -- regardless of party preference -- move on to the general election. The system requires that all the candidates for state legislative offices, congressional offices and state constitutional offices be listed on the same ballot and not split up by political party.

Humboldt County Registrar of Voters Carolyn Crnich said there were some glitches trying to implement the new system.

"We did have some confused voters, thinking that they got to vote for two people," Crnich said.

She said she wasn't sure if people were confused by the "top two" part of the new system or were confused because Humboldt is now in the 2nd Congressional District.

"We did have a sizable number of over-votes," Crnich said, adding that the over-votes aren't counted.

The new open primary system also applies to the 2nd District Assembly race. Even though Chesbro received 63.9 percent of the vote districtwide, followed by Lynch with 23.2 percent, the two will square off in the general election. The new system stipulates that a November election is still held even if a candidate receives a majority of the vote, defined as 50 percent plus one.

In Humboldt County, voters favored Chesbro with 72.3 percent of the vote, followed by Lynch with 16.4 percent.

County elections officials are required to report their final results to the Secretary of State by July 6. The Secretary of State then has until July 13 to certify the results of the election.

Crnich said Thursday that her estimates Wednesday of the ballots left to be counted were low and that the number now stands at 6,457. She said the county received 5,814 vote-by-mail ballots at the polls and in the mail Monday and Tuesday. In addition, 643 provisional ballots still need to be counted.

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Top vote getters, districtwide vs Humboldt County

2nd Congressional District

* Jared Huffman: 37.3 percent districtwide; 27.5 percent in Humboldt

* Daniel Roberts: 15.3 percent districtwide; 18.6 percent in Humboldt

* Norman Solomon: 14.2 percent districtwide; 11.7 percent in Humboldt

2nd District Assembly

* Wesley Chesbro: 63.9 percent districtwide; 72.3 percent in Humboldt

* Tom Lynch: 23.2 percent districtwide; 16.4 percent in Humboldt

Source: California Secretary of State's Office

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The Marin Independent Journal, a MediaNews Group affiliate, contributed to this report.